Backward Christian Soldiers (Katha Pollitt column)

subject to debate by Katha Pollitt

[from the April 18, 2005 issue]

Maybe, just maybe, the religious right and its Republican friends have finally gone too far with the Terri Schiavo case. Americans may tell pollsters the earth was created in six days flat and dinosaurs shared the planet with Adam and Eve, but I don't believe they want Tom DeLay to be their personal physician. I don't think they want fanatics moaning and praying outside the hospital while they're making hard decisions. I don't think they want people getting arrested trying to "feed" their comatose relatives, or issuing death threats against judges and spouses in the name of "life." I don't think John Q. Public wants Jeb Bush to adopt his wife or Newt Gingrich to call her by her first name or Senator Frist to diagnose her by video, or Jesse Jackson to pop in at the last minute for a prayer and a photo-op.

The Terri Schiavo freak show is so deeply crazy, so unhinged, such a brew of religiosity and hypocrisy and tabloid sensationalism, just maybe it is clueing people in to where the right's moral triumphalism is leading us. Before Congress jumped into the act, Republicans may have seen a great opportunity to paint the Democrats as the "party of death." No thanks to the Dems, who mostly cowered, the stratagem backfired: The weekend after Schiavo's feeding tube was withdrawn, 75 percent of Americans told CBS pollsters they wanted government to stay out of end-of-life issues, and 82 percent thought Congress and the President should have kept away. Jesse Jackson seems not to have gotten the memo--he's calling for the Florida legislature to overturn thirty years of carefully crafted medical ethics and pass a previously rejected bill requiring patients in a persistent vegetative state to remain on life support forever, unless they've left a written directive to the contrary. If that's the "religious left," forget it.

The Carpetbagger Report: Friday’s political round-up

Posted 11:59 am

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* The ever-changing Dem field in the Rhode Island Senate race took another turn yesterday when former state attorney general and U.S. Attorney Sheldon Whitehouse (D) advised close family and friends earlier this week that he has decided to run. A formal announcement by the 49-year-old Whitehouse is expected Monday.

The Carpetbagger Report:More bad news for the economy

More bad news for the economy

Posted 11:00 am

Remember all that talk from Bush, late in the campaign, about how his tax cuts had finally started producing a strong job market? Well, forget it.

Payroll growth across the country was sluggish in March as employers added just 110,000 jobs, the fewest since July. Nevertheless, the soft labor market accommodated enough people to drop the unemployment rate to 5.2 percent.

The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday, offered another mixed picture of America’s hiring climate. The job market has been the sector of the economy that has been among the slowest to recover from the last recession.

US relied on 'drunken liar' to justify war

'Crazy' Iraqi spy was full of misinformation, says report

Edward Helmore in New York
Sunday April 3, 2005
The Observer

An alcoholic cousin of an aide to Ahmed Chalabi has emerged as the key source in the US rationale for going to war in Iraq.

According to a US presidential commission looking into pre-war intelligence failures, the basis for pivotal intelligence on Iraq's alleged biological weapons programmes and fleet of mobile labs was a spy described as 'crazy' by his intelligence handlers and a 'congenital liar' by his friends.

culturebox: The Limbaugh Code

The New York Times best seller no one is talking about.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Posted Friday, April 1, 2005, at 3:21 PM PT

If a book lands on the best-seller list and nobody hears it, did it really happen? Mark R. Levin's Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America was ranked eighth on the New York Times list this week; it's been on that list for six weeks now, and seems to be leaping off the bookshelves, despite the fact that it concerns constitutional law and the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet it has been reviewed virtually no place and written up by almost no one. True, Charles Lane did a piece about it in the Washington Post a few days ago; he noted that absolutely nobody who writes, talks, or thinks about the high court has even read it. It's selling, it seems, almost entirely due to endorsements by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Fox News.

Michael Kinsley: The Numbers Belie Republicans

By Michael Kinsley

Sunday, April 3, 2005; Page B07

It was the TV talker Chris Matthews, I believe, who first labeled Democrats and Republicans the "Mommy Party" and the "Daddy Party." Archaic as these stereotypes may be, they do capture general attitudes about the two parties. But we live in the age of the one-parent family, and it is Mom more often than Dad who must play both roles.

It has not escaped notice that the Daddy Party has been fiscally misbehaving. But it hasn't really sunk in how completely Republicans have abandoned allegedly Republican values -- if in fact they ever really had such values.

The Carpetbagger Report: How did stem cells end up on the House agenda?

It did seem odd. Last week, House GOP leaders announced that a bi-partisan bill that would loosen Bush’s restrictions on stem cell research would get a floor vote this year. Why would Hastert and DeLay agree to a vote on a bill that they oppose, the religious right hates, and that might embarrass the White House? Bob Novak explained it’s because it was the only way to pass a budget.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert agreed to schedule the vote for this summer only after Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware, leader of a small band of liberal House Republicans, threatened to withhold votes on the closely contested budget resolution just before the recess began. Hastert asserted he was not yielding on stem cell research to save the budget, but that was the reality inferred by shocked conservatives.

The Carpetbagger Report: The Not-So-Special Counsel

There were signs early on that Scott Bloch’s tenure at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel — the independent agency created to investigate whistle-blower complaints — was going to be problematic.

Among the first moves Bloch made at the office was to remove references to sexual orientation from a discrimination complaint form, training slides, a brochure titled “Your Rights as a Federal Employee,” and other documents. The motivation was pretty obvious — it’s harder to protect gay government employees from discrimination if the government’s lawyers delete information about their rights from official documents.

Robert Parry/Consortium News: CIA 'Reform' -- or Just Sack 'Em All

By Robert Parry

April 3, 2005

If the American people want to prevent another intelligence failure like the one that has sent more than 1,500 U.S. soldiers to die in Iraq, it will take more than just shaking up the CIA. Much of Washington’s political and media elites would need to be sacked as well.

Indeed, it is a sign of how deep the problem goes that neoconservative Republican Laurence Silberman chaired a presidential commission evaluating the CIA’s failures, since he also oversaw the Reagan-Bush intelligence transition team in 1980 that struck one of the first blows against the intellectual integrity of the CIA’s analytical division. [See below]

Daily Kos: Loyal Opposition

by Armando
Sat Apr 2nd, 2005 at 14:13:55 PST

Steve Gilliard posted a great e-mail from a former military officer, who now blogs on Iraq at dailywarnews.blogspot.com. Here's a bit of it:

I don't wish for failure in Iraq. I don't want to see my country fail at any endeavor. I sincerely hope the Iraqi elections lead to an end to the insurgency, because the American soldiers fighting there are the my friends, comrades, and brother officers. I trained many of those brave men and women. In the Casualty Reports portion of my blog, I've already posted the names of two friends (one KIA, one WIA) and the KIA name of the only son of one of the finest NCOs with whom I ever served. I remember bouncing that boy on my knee when his daddy and I were junior NCOs and our wives gossiped together. (NCOs love gossip, too.) I remember how proud his daddy was when his son was selected for West Point while we were later stationed together at Fort Bragg.

I don't wish for failure but I don't expect success. I started my blog as a result of the piss-poor coverage of the Iraq war in the American media. Rumsfeld and his buddies have fucked up this war from jump street, and the US media has failed to report it. After 27 years of active duty, I know a bit about US Army operational doctrine and force structure planning. You don't make a deep attack on a strategic objective along a single axis of advance, and you always build your force structure with sufficient resources to protect your lines of communication during the campaign and to secure your objective after you've taken it. Despite the advice of the uniformed officers, Rumsfeld and his civilian political appointees (most of whom never served a day in uniform unless they were Boy Scouts or worked at Burger King) insisted on a minimal force structure and a single attack route to Baghdad.

Exactly. Because patriotism requires standing up and dissenting when you believe your government is doing the wrong thing.

Digby/Hullabaloo: This Week

Saturday, April 02, 2005

This has been the worst week of blogging since I started. Blogger has been constantly bloggered and when it wasn't, my cable has been offline. Since last Tuesday, I've barely been able to read Atrios, for gawds sake, much less post one of my own brilliant observances. I hate blogging in coffee shops, I just hate it. But I'm here and if I don't keel over from caffeine poisoning before blogger eats my post, I'll hopefully have something brilliant up soon. Or not.

Juan Cole/Informed Comment: Sistani Fatwa on Security

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Sistani Fatwa on Security

Al-Hayat: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani gave a fatwa Friday saying that cooperation with the forces charged with safeguarding security in Iraq is "obligatory" on all Iraqis, "as long as the principles of Islamic law are observed."

Sistani was replying to a letter sent him, which asked if it was required to cooperate with security forces aiming at keeping the country safe, at a time when it was threatened by former regime elements and those who came from abroad to throw the country into turmoil. The new fatwa does not change anything, since Sistani was known to have this position. But it does reinforce the legitimacy of the new Iraqi military and police forces, being trained by the US.

David Neiwert/Orcinus: Mainstreaming extremism

Friday, April 01, 2005

One of the more troubling realities about white supremacists, as I've written at length, is their seeming normalcy, and how it plays a key role in their ability to worm their way back into the mainstream of American culture.

An instructive example in how this works recently cropped up in Montana, where an avowed white supremacist is running for the school board in Bozeman:
White separatist Kevin McGuire has qualified to run as a candidate for the nine-member Bozeman School Board.

Juan Cole/Informed Comment: Sistani Fatwa on Security

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Al-Hayat: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani gave a fatwa Friday saying that cooperation with the forces charged with safeguarding security in Iraq is "obligatory" on all Iraqis, "as long as the principles of Islamic law are observed."

Sistani was replying to a letter sent him, which asked if it was required to cooperate with security forces aiming at keeping the country safe, at a time when it was threatened by former regime elements and those who came from abroad to throw the country into turmoil. The new fatwa does not change anything, since Sistani was known to have this position. But it does reinforce the legitimacy of the new Iraqi military and police forces, being trained by the US.

David Neiwert/Orcinus: Up to the Minuteman

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Well, I kinda had a hunch the numbers of "Minutemen" might fall a little short of expectations.

Wouldn't you know it, journalists outnumber the Minutemen so far in Arizona, where only 120 of the supposed 1,000 managed to show:
About 400 people attended the opening day of the Minuteman Project Friday, coming from states as far as Pennsylvania and Tennessee to protest a lack of proper border enforcement.

At Least 20 U.S. Troops Hurt in Mass Iraq Jail Attack

Sat Apr 2, 3:58 PM ET

By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Dozens of insurgents mounted a sustained attack on Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad on Saturday, detonating two suicide car bombs and firing rocket- propelled grenades before U.S. troops repelled the assault.

Montana House condemns Patriot Act

HELENA - Montana lawmakers overwhelmingly passed what its sponsor called the nation's most strongly worded criticism of the federal Patriot Act on Friday, uniting politicians of all stripes.

The resolution, which already galloped through the Senate and passed the House 88-12 Friday, must survive a final vote before it officially passes.

Oil prices surge to new records

Crude oil prices hit record levels on Friday, with leading investment bank Goldman Sachs warning the cost of a barrel could eventually top $100.

Terri Schiavo & the Right-Wing Machine

Terri Schiavo & the Right-Wing Machine

By Sam Parry
April 1, 2005

The media frenzy surrounding the Terri Schiavo case is new evidence of the American Right’s ability to dominate national news cycles, a power that has become possibly the most intimidating force in modern U.S. politics. In the Schiavo case, however, the Right has discovered that even its impressive message machinery sometimes can push the envelope too far.

Daily Howler - April 1, 2005

WHO IS BARBARA WELLER? Reporting from the Good Planet Hot Tub, Michelle Cottle ignored Barbara Weller

FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2005

EVEN BITTNER THE SECOND TIME AROUND: For us, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill was even better the second time around. We went the first time on Monday afternoon, sitting in a deserted theater. But last night, we were part of a good-sized audience—and we were impressed to see how often they laughed at Mark Bittner, the subject of this one-of-a-kind documentary. In truth, attendees didn’t laugh at Bittner; clearly, they laughed in surprise and delight at Bittner’s thorough lack of disguise. Indeed, in many ways, this film explores the human capacity to find delight in the external world. In the pull-quote in this morning’s Post, Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir praises Wild Parrots thus: “One of the most beautiful and endearing nature films you’ve ever seen...I loved this movie without reservation.” But the nature explored here is human nature—and the human search chronicled here goes deep. For many of you, this film will provide a welcome alternative to the parade of pious-but-angry crackpots you saw on cable “news” networks all week.

Juan Cole/Informed Comment: US-Pakistan Relations

US-Pakistan Relations "Broad-Based"
Four Suspected al-Qaeda Captured in Peshawar

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence along with, probably, the FBI arrested four foreign Muslims in Peshawar on Thursday. They are: Abdul Aziz of Kunduz,Afghanistan; Mustafa, a Turk; Sulaiman, a Spaniard; and Tulan, a Russian Muslim. The four are suspected of being al-Qaeda.

Juan Cole/Informed Comment: Troops & Iraqis Killed, Rand Report to Rumsfeld

3 US Troops Killed
At Least 11 Iraqis Killed, 16 Wounded
"The Government is Not Even Close to being Formed"

A Rand report done for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld lets him have it over the poor planning at the Pentagon for the aftermath of the war in Iraq, and for poor US military performance on counter-insurgency. The report is so thorough that it even critiques problems I hadn't know we had, such as ineffective deployment of Blackhawk helicopters. I had thought them effective early in the war.

Juan Cole/Informed Comment: A Tragic Death and other Tragic Deaths

A Tragic Death and other Tragic Deaths

I address a different aspect of this story in my opinion piece at Salon.com, "In gods we trust," today.

Bush's bizarre press conference on Thursday was according to the Washington Post "on Terri Schiavo anhd Weapons of Mass Destruction." That US newspapers report this bewildering juxtaposition without so much as a "Huhn?" tells you to what estate political discourse in this country has fallen.

James Wolcott: The Lord Is My Shepard Smith

Fox News didn't even wait for the Pope to die to start politicizing his death. Based on an erroneous report from Fox's sister network Sky Italia, Shepard Smith announced that the Pope had died and began eulogizing him, the eulogy ending with a tribute to the Pope as a symbol of "moderation and conservatism."

Fred Korematsu, 86, Dies; Lost Key Suit on Internment

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Fred T. Korematsu, who lost a Supreme Court challenge in 1944 to the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans but gained vindication decades later when he was given the Medal of Freedom, died on Wednesday in Larkspur, Calif. Mr. Korematsu, who lived in San Leandro, Calif., was 86.

This Is Not the Way

"We will look at an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president."

THUS DID House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Tex.) respond yesterday to the unwillingness of the federal courts to participate in the cynical game Congress played with the last days of Terri Schiavo's life. What exactly he means to do about judges -- who are appointed for life -- was a little vague. His message of intimidation, however, was crystal clear. Asked whether he would consider impeachment proceedings against the robed villains who thwarted his will, he responded, "There's plenty of time to look into that." His remarks cap a remarkable set of attacks on judicial independence by a Congress that has acted in this matter with profound disrespect for the judicial function. Such crude threats of retribution against judges of both parties who were only doing their jobs is, indeed, a mark of an arrogant and out-of-control federal power -- but that power is the legislature, not the judiciary.

Echidne of the Snakes: On Fundamentalists

Juan Cole has a good opinion piece on the Salon about the American fundamentalism. It begins with:

It isn't just Michael Schiavo -- even George W. Bush has drawn the wrath of American evangelicals. In February 2002, the president and Laura Bush visited a Shinto shrine in Japan, to which they showed respect with a bow. They were immediately denounced by evangelical organizations for having "worshipped the idol." To listen to the anguished cries of disbelief from Bush's Christian base, you would have thought he had met the same fate as Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," where Indie was hypnotized by the evil rajah into worshipping the pernicious Hindu idol of the thugees.

Dollar Drops Versus Euro, Yen After U.S. Jobless Claims Rise

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell against the euro and yen after government reports showed U.S. jobless claims rose and inflation held steady, a sign the Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates as much as some traders expected.

Seymour Hersh: Bush is "Unreachable"

March 31, 2005

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Gloria R. Lalumia, BuzzFlash Columnist

Seymour Hersh visited New Mexico State University (Las Cruces) on Tuesday, March 29 as part of his speaking tour for his newest book, “Chain of Command: the Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.” He opened his presentation by announcing that he intended to discuss “what’s on my mind” and “where we think we are.” The first thing on his mind was a chilling assessment of George W. Bush.

Rice Alarms Reformist Arabs with Stability Remarks

Tue Mar 29, 7:36 AM ET

By Jonathan Wright

CAIRO (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has alarmed many reformist Arabs with comments suggesting a new U.S. approach that promotes rapid political change without regard for internal stability.

Atrios at Eschaton: Wingnuttia Overload

James Dobson is on CNN bitching about the courts going against "the will of the people" (ignoring the fact that, in this situation, the courts are clearly with the people).

Juan Cole/Informed Comment: Shahristani Denounces ex-Baath Sunnis in Parliament

Child malnutrition has soared in Iraq under the Americans, according to a former Official.

Al-Zaman: Hussein Shahristani, a prominent member of the United Iraqi Alliance, affirmed that his bloc in parliament would work to prevent any former members of the Baath Party from filling positions in the new government. He said that former Baaathists and former members of parliament under Saddam Hussein have gotten into the new parliament via the list of Iyad Allawi, and that they are striving to disrupt the political process and find a way to grab the post of speaker of parliament. He added, "If the candidate is not accepted, the UIA will impose a candidate for speaker." He added, "The candidate must be an elected member of the parliament" and "the number of members [from the Sunni Arab minority] is small. They are either former Baathists or former members of the parliaments formed under the shadow of Saddam's regime." He affirmed, "We are not appointing persons at this stage, but all of them are on the Iraqiya list. There are a number of Baathists on that list, which is unacceptable to the UIA."

David Neiwert at Orcinus: Saved

I must be a member of the Culture of Death, because I find myself relieved that Terri Schiavo finally passed away this morning.

But largely because it prevents folks like Bo Gritz and Norm Olson and the Michigan Militia from "rescuing" her:
Norm Olson, senior adviser to the Michigan militia and pastor of a strong right-to-life church in Wolverine, said Tuesday he had put together an unarmed coalition of state militias that were prepared to storm the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo has been left to die, and take her to a safe house.

An American fatwa

Media irresponsibility could place Michael Schiavo’s life in danger for many years to come
BY DAN KENNEDY

IF THERE WAS an emblematic moment in the religious right’s crusade against Michael Schiavo, it might be said to have taken place on March 21. It was a Monday, three days after Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube had been removed. And William Hammesfahr, a neurologist who claims to have examined the all-but-brain-dead woman for some 10 hours several years ago, was a guest on Sean Hannity’s radio show.

Daily Howler - March 31, 2005

ERRING ON THE SIDE OF ERROR! At the Times, they err on the side of confusion. And sometimes they just get it wrong

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2005

ERRING ON THE SIDE OF ERROR: No, it won’t make a bit of difference in the ongoing Social Security debate. But try to believe that the New York Times’ Edmund Andrews still can’t get the simplest facts straight:

ANDREWS (3/31/05):Under Mr. Bush's plan, workers would be allowed to divert up to 4 percent of their payroll taxes to personal retirement accounts. But people would have to earn at least 3 percent a year after inflation to break even, because their traditional benefits would be reduced by the amount of their contributions, plus 3 percent a year in interest. Yes, that’s what it says in our hard copy of today’s Times, the one we hold in our hands as we type. (The same mistaken account appears on the Times’ web site, at least right now as we look.) Somehow, though, the Nexis version of this report contains an accurate statement:

Atrios at Eschaton: On Rhetoric

LG&M writes:

I think this is something that progressives need to pay more attention to. Mark Smith, a UW political scientist, has spent a lot of time looking at back copies of the National Review to study conservative rhetoric on tax policy. In the wake of Goldwater, conservative arguments in favor of tax cuts tended to be libertarian ones, linking tax cuts with increased freedom. Particularly starting with Reagan, the libertarian arguments became much less prevalent, and were largely replaced by arguments linking tax cuts to economic growth. The latter strategy had significantly more public appeal. It's important, therefore, for progressives not to concede the premise that tax cuts produce economic growth; the evidence for this is, to put it mildly, weak.

Atrios at Eschaton:

The ability of MoveonPAC to raise money through their email list is astounding:

Early Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., sent an appeal over the Internet urging people to contribute to the re-election campaign of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.

In less than 24 hours, more than 15,000 contributors gave $634,000 to Byrd’s campaign, according to the National Journal’s daily Internet publication “Hotline.” The average donation was about $42.25.

Talking Points Memo

Since the beginning of this current round of the privatization debate -- now going back more than four months -- critics have made a simple and I think unassailable point: the privatizers' argument for the gains to be had from private accounts don't hold up because they use optimistic economic assumptions to forecast returns from private accounts but very pessimistic assumptions to predict the future of Social Security.

The neocon revolution

US unilateralism was a means of breaking the old order. Now it is building new alliances
Martin Jacques
Thursday March 31, 2005
Guardian

With any new political phenomenon, there is always a tendency to underestimate its novelty and treat it as some kind of short-term aberration. I vividly recall how long it took commentators and analysts, on the right and left, to recognise that Thatcherism was something quite new and here to stay. Similar doubts greeted the Bush administration and the neocon revolution: its novelty would be short-lived, it would not last and it was just not viable. It is always hard to imagine a new kind of world, easier to think of the future as an extension of the past, and difficult to comprehend a paradigm shift and grasp a new kind of logic.

Ethanol, Gasoline and the Environment

Dr. Dave: My state legislature (Montana) is currently debating a bill to mandate 10 percent ethanol in all gasoline. Is that a good idea? I’ve read that ethanol causes problems.

A. Montana is one of six states that has in place or is currently debating, an ethanol mandate. One state, Minnesota, has a mandate for the use of vegetable oil/diesel blends. To answer your question, let’s start, as we always do, with some basic background.

Ethanol is another name for pure alcohol. Anyone who has made beer or wine has taken the first step toward making ethanol. Microorganisms ferment sugars into ethanol (and carbon dioxide). Wine consists of about 10 percent alcohol (20 proof). To produce fuel or industrial ethanol (unlike beverage ethanol) the low content alcohol goes through a series of distillation phases to eliminate the water. The final product is 100 percent alcohol (200 proof). That is what is mixed into our gasoline.[1]

WHO LOST CENTRAL ASIA?

Tue Mar 29, 8:31 PM ET

by Ted Rall

U.S. Again Sides with Dictatorship over Democracy

NEW YORK--When you think "Jockey," you think "tidy whities." But a few years back, far from the prying eyes of Western business writers, in the dusty capital of the remote former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, Jockey tried to reinvent itself as a high-end men's formalwear designer.

Electricity was spotty and civil war was raging in neighboring Tajikistan, but Kyrgyzstan was flush with loans from the International Monetary Fund. The mere existence of the Jockey store, overstaffed with supermodel-quality Kyrgyz women wearing identical black microminis, testified to the optimism infecting Bishkek during the giddy summer of 1997. ("Does anybody shop here?" I asked a salesgirl. She assured me that people did. "Do they ever buy anything?" She giggled nervously. An average Kyrgyz worker would have needed a decade's salary to take home a styling Jockey suit.)

NGOs: Peru's Doe Run Smelter Poisoning Children

By Robin Emmott

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Almost all young children in Peru's La Oroya mining town have harmful levels of lead in their blood and many are suffering from bronchitis and stunted growth because of toxic gases pumped out by the U.S.-owned metals smelter there, community groups said on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s political round-up

My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* A week after the RNC said helping Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum keep his seat is the party’s top ‘06 priority, DNC Chairman Howard Dean said the party would do “anything we can” to defeat the senator next year.

* The ongoing quest to find a Republican willing to take on Hillary Clinton next year continues, but William Brenner, a Sullivan County attorney, apparently intends to give it a shot. Brenner’s political experience is limited to getting trounced by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D) last year.

The Carpetbagger Report: Danforth gives GOP excellent advice

No matter how persuasive or accurate their claims, when a Democrat insists that Republicans are overly influenced by far-right theocratic conservatives, it falls on deaf ears. But when Republicans say the same thing about their own party, it’s time to take notice.

Connecticut’s Chris Shays (R), for example, sounded pretty disgusted when he told the New York Times, “This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy.” Former New Jersey governor and former EPA administrator Christie Todd Whitman (R) has been making similar comments for months.

But, much to my chagrin, these two are dismissed as New England RINOs whose opinions aren’t relevant to the party or its leaders. What Republicans really need is a respected figure who has offers a similar message, but whose judgment carries more weight.

John Danforth, who had an incredible op-ed column in the New York Times today, fits the bill perfectly.

The Carpetbagger Report: Weather in Bush's Bubble

March 30, 2005

There’s Bush’s view of the world…

President Bush insisted Wednesday that public opinion is leaning his way on his proposal for a Social Security overhaul and hinted at political problems for lawmakers who oppose him.

Notwithstanding a host of recent polls showing waning public support for his proposal, Bush cited only the part of the surveys that shows the public is — as it long has been — aware of the program’s long-term fiscal problems.

Living will is the best revenge

By ROBERT FRIEDMAN, Perspective Editor
Published March 27, 2005

---

Like many of you, I have been compelled by recent events to prepare a more detailed advance directive dealing with end-of-life issues. Here's what mine says:

* In the event I lapse into a persistent vegetative state, I want medical authorities to resort to extraordinary means to prolong my hellish semiexistence. Fifteen years wouldn't be long enough for me.

* I want my wife and my parents to compound their misery by engaging in a bitter and protracted feud that depletes their emotions and their bank accounts.

Juan Cole/Informed Comment: Parliament Fiasco

Mortar shells landed in the green zone near parliament at one point during its meeting on Tuesday, emptying the room briefly of frantic reporters, according to al-Hayat. The wrangling over cabinet posts continued, with the petroleum ministry coveted by both Shiites and Kurds.

James Wolcott: The Ghoulies

"Your heart goes out to them," said Margaret Carlson on this weekend's Capital Gang (CNN), that lifeboat for clueless pundits.

By "them," Carlson meant the parents of Terri Schiavo. Carlson (how the hell does she have a career?) had been so effusive in praise of them and so abusive in disparagement of Michael Schiavo that Robert Novak commended her after she paused for breath, which is like being kissed by a vampire who's removed his fangs.

Naomi Klein Reveals New Details About U.S. Military Shooting of Italian War Correspondent in Iraq

Three weeks after being shot by US forces in Iraq, veteran Italian war correspondent Giuliana Sgrena is released from a military hospital. New details are emerging about the killing of the Italian agent who saved her life. We speak with independent journalist Naomi Klein, who just returned from meeting with Sgrena in Rome.

US SCATTERS BASES TO CONTROL EURASIA

Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--US SCATTERS BASES TO CONTROL EURASIA (The United States is beefing up its military presence in Afghanistan, at the same time encircling Iran. Washington will set up nine new bases in Afghanistan in the provinces of Helmand, Herat, Nimrouz, Balkh, Khost and Paktia. Reports also make it clear that the decision to set up new US military bases was made during Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Kabul last December. Subsequently, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accepted the Pentagon diktat. Not that Karzai had a choice: US intelligence is of the view that he will not be able to hold on to his throne beyond June unless the US Army can speed up training of a large number of Afghan army recruits and protect Kabul. Even today, the inner core of Karzai's security is run by the US State Department with personnel provided by private US contractors. … Media reports coming out of the South Asian subcontinent point to a US intent that goes beyond bringing Afghanistan under control, to playing a determining role in the vast Eurasian region. In fact, one can argue that the landing of US troops in Afghanistan in the winter of 2001 was a deliberate policy to set up forward bases at the crossroads of three major areas: the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. Not only is the area energy-rich, but it is also the meeting point of three growing powers - China, India and Russia.)

Cursur: Media Patrol - March 30, 2005

As Iraq's new National Assembly "degenerated into farce and chaos," then went into secret session, before failing again to name a government, "televisions showing the proceedings abruptly switched to an Iraqi singer belting out 'My Homeland, My Homeland.'" Juan Cole has more on the 'parliament fiasco.'

[...]

"If this is how Washington treats Italy ..." Jeremy Scahill follows up on Naomi Klein's "Democracy Now!" discussion of her interview with Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who said that the car she was in wasn't on the airport road and was fired on from behind.

[...]

'Degrees of Not Knowing' Reviewing recent books about Iraq that provide various accounts of "what the Coalition thinks it is doing," Rory Stewart argues that "critics are no better informed than members of the administration" -- and that even "Baghdad intellectuals don't understand the status of ... the most senior Shia clerics."

Lobbyist With Ties to Bush Investigated

By The Associated Press

Filed at 11:37 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A lobbyist under investigation for billing Indian tribes tens of millions of dollars was at the center of an earlier inquiry that said his firm hadn't justified roughly $1.2 million it charged the Northern Mariana Islands.

Jack Abramoff, who has ties to President Bush and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, is the lobbyist being investigated. He was the lead lobbyist for Seattle-based Preston Gates & Ellis when it worked on behalf of the U.S. territorial islands to keep them free from certain federal labor and immigration laws during the last half of the 1990s, according to reviews conducted by the Pacific islands' public auditors.

U.S. Barred From Sending 13 Detainees Abroad

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 30, 2005; Page A11

A federal judge yesterday barred the Bush administration from transferring a group of detainees from the U.S. military prison in Cuba to the custody of foreign governments without first giving the prisoners a chance to challenge the move in court.

Daily Howler - March 30, 2005

SOMETHING TO ASPIRE TO! A documentary’s “involving ideas” help show what the press corps is not

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2005

SOMETHING TO ASPIRE TO: We’ll join the pro critics in strongly recommending The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Amazing! A small documentary about a little-known man who turns out to be the rarest of breeds—a deeply interesting person! Wesley Morris makes the key point in his Boston Globe review:

MORRIS: Judy Irving's terrific documentary "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" is ostensibly about birds, but only in the way that a game of Scrabble is about tiles. The movie's actually about Mark Bittner, a sensitive specimen of West Coast humanity whose eccentricity is something to aspire to.

Billmon at Whisky Bar: Freak Show

A lot of people on the left side of the blogosphere seem to be outraged by the fact that sex entrepreneur Jeff "Bulldog" Gannon has been invited to join a panel session on journalism and blogging at the National Press Club in Washington.

I can understand where they're coming from, and for those who would like to put their outrage in concrete form, Sean-Paul over at The Agonist is collecting signatures on an open letter to the NPC. I signed Sean-Paul's letter, but I have to admit this one doesn't really flutter my own personal outrage meter all that much. As an ex-journalist, ex-NPC member and hopeless connoisseur of the absurd, I actually think it's kind of appropriate to have the 8'' (cut) escort sit in on the session. Given the current state of the corporate media, I also think they should ask Zippy the Pinhead to come speak for senior management -- or maybe they could invite former CNN exec Eason Jordan (ah, but I repeat myself.)

Atrios at Eschaton: Perjurer

Apparently it's one of those days for me. It is indeed the year 2005, and not 2004, no matter what some of my misfiring neurons are telling me.

Insomnia is not quite correct in asserting that Sanchez committed perjury, but he did cleverly tell the technical truth while misleading the senior senator from Vo Dilun, Jack Reed.
Insomnia points out that Sanchez is guilty of a wee bit of perjury, lying to the senior Senator from Vo Dilun, Jack Reed:

Digby at Hullabaloo: Expert Witnesses

I've been busy and bloggered for the last day or so and missed the latest blogging panel and GG kerfluffle. My goodness, the mainstream media certainly is having a difficult time understanding what both blogging and prostitution are. And you'd think they could figure it out since they practice certain elements of both pursuits on a daily basis. No wonder they don't question the Bush administration's lies. They just aren't very bright, apparently.

David Neiwert at Orcinus: 'Anchor babies' away

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Calling Michelle Malkin! We need your expertise, on a key immigration issue. It should be right up your alley.

Maybe you've heard about this. One of the more audacious efforts of the anti-immigration crowd with whom you've aligned yourself -- you know, Tom Tancredo, Nathan Deal, those folks -- has arrived in the form of legislation that would strip the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States of citizenship rights:

[A] bill co-sponsored by Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, would deny citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants in the United States, but opponents say the bill uses immigrants as a scapegoat for poorly developed policies.

Talking Points Memo: Trial Balloon?

CNN's Carlos Watson says President Bush may try to phase out Social Security for federal workers by executive order. I guess if the democratic legislation approach doesn't pan out this may be next.

I had been thinking he might try this for all Social Security participants if he can get away with it--perhaps in the time between the elections and his leaving office.--Dictynna

Not Intelligent, and Surely Not Science

By Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer is founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and the author of "Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown" (Times Books, 2005).

March 30, 2005

According to intelligent-design theory, life is too complex to have evolved by natural forces. Therefore life must have been created by a supernatural force — an intelligent designer. ID theorists argue that because such design can be inferred through the methods of science, IDT should be given equal time alongside evolutionary theory in public school science classes. Nine states have recently proposed legislation that would require just that.

Liberals hit back at Iraq's new Islamists

Liberals hit back at Iraq's new Islamists

Secular groups try to stop prime ministerial candidate with suspected links to Iran, as political gridlock worsens

Michael Howard in Baghdad
Tuesday March 29, 2005

Guardian

Leading secular and liberal groups have launched a counter-attack against what they say is the undue influence of hardline Shia Islamists and Iran's theocracy on the formation of Iraq's new government.

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'
Tim Radford, science editor
Wednesday March 30, 2005

Guardian

The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure.

The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning" for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself.

When Sentiment and Fear Trump Reason and Reality

By LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS

have recently begun to wonder whether I am completely out of touch with the mainstream, and if so, what that implies.

When I was a young student it became clear to me that the remarkable success of the scientific method, which changed the world beyond belief in the four centuries since Galileo, made the power and efficacy of that method evident. Moreover, scientific ideas are not only powerful but so beautiful that they are on par with the most spectacular legacies of civilization in art, architecture, literature, music and philosophy.

This is what makes the current times so disconcerting. We like to think that spectacular intellectual developments bring progress, so that future generations may benefit from what has come before. But this is often an illusion.

What's Going On? (Paul Krugman column)

By PAUL KRUGMAN

emocratic societies have a hard time dealing with extremists in their midst. The desire to show respect for other people's beliefs all too easily turns into denial: nobody wants to talk about the threat posed by those whose beliefs include contempt for democracy itself.

We can see this failing clearly in other countries. In the Netherlands, for example, a culture of tolerance led the nation to ignore the growing influence of Islamic extremists until they turned murderous.

Two Months In and Still Foundering
Iraqi Assembly Again Fails to Elect Speaker or Fill Other Key Positions

By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 30, 2005; Page A08

BAGHDAD, March 29 -- Iraq's new National Assembly had just convened for its second session Tuesday when a wide-girthed Shiite Muslim cleric, Hussein Sadr, appealed to his fellow deputies to quickly elect a speaker.

The Carpetbagger Report: Reporters, call your lawyers

Here’s a legal fight that could have broad implications.

The Supreme Court refused Monday to shield the news media from being sued for accurately reporting a politician’s false charges against a rival.

Instead, the justices let stand a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that a newspaper can be forced to pay damages for having reported that a city councilman called the mayor and the council president “liars,” “queers” and “child molesters.”

Efforts to protect Bubble Boy go off the deep end — again

As Kos and Josh Marshall noted today, this is truly insane.

The Secret Service is investigating whether an anti-war bumper sticker that was found on the car of three people had something to do with whether they were removed from President George Bush’s town hall meeting in Aurora last week.

The three people say they obtained tickets to the invitation-only event through the office of Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo. They said they passed through security but just as they were preparing to take their seats at the event they were approached by what they thought was a Secret Service agent, who asked them to leave.

The Carpetbagger Report: Retaliating against the courts

Right wingers are angry about the way the Schiavo case turned out in the courts. The unanimity of the rulings — among state and federal judges, elected and appointed, Dem and Republican, this month and spanning several years — doesn’t lead them to believe there’s a flaw in their legal reasoning, only that there’s something wrong with the judicial branch.

We’ve all heard the recent bluster. Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum, among others, have denounced the “judicial tyranny” he’s seen. Not satisfied with bizarre legal arguments and overheated rhetoric, some Republicans on the Hill are making noises about taking their concerns to the next level.

The Carpetbagger Report: Tuesday's Political Roundup

My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* New York 1 reported yesterday that Gov. George Pataki (R) “has decided not to seek another term next year and will concentrate instead on a bid for the vice-presidential nomination in 2008.” Pataki’s chief spokesman, David Catalfamo, denied the report.

* Just when everything looked bright for the future of Republicans in Florida, the Terri Schiavo case and the Bush plan to privatize Social Security has suddenly put the state GOP in a more precarious position. “It may be that we tried to load the wagon with too many watermelons,” said Tom Slade, Florida’s former Republican Party chairman. “There’s not … a lot of good news on our side of the aisle at this minute.”

Echidne of the Snakes: Tea Leaves and History

Tea Leaves and History

We don't know what our era will be called in the future tellings of history. We don't know if this is the beginning of the Second Dark Ages, with a return to religious oppression, anti-scientific thinking and strict feudal hierarchies for all humans, or if we are simply the eye-witnesses of the last, albeit powerful, death throes of an old, conservative worldview. Perhaps we are indeed sliding towards Rapture, and the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse will come galloping towards us just around tomorrow's corner. Mother Earth may shrug us off like so many annoying fleas. Or we might just go on, haltingly, just as we have been doing for some decades now.

Echidne of the Snakes: Tea Leaves and History

Tea Leaves and History

We don't know what our era will be called in the future tellings of history. We don't know if this is the beginning of the Second Dark Ages, with a return to religious oppression, anti-scientific thinking and strict feudal hierarchies for all humans, or if we are simply the eye-witnesses of the last, albeit powerful, death throes of an old, conservative worldview. Perhaps we are indeed sliding towards Rapture, and the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse will come galloping towards us just around tomorrow's corner. Mother Earth may shrug us off like so many annoying fleas. Or we might just go on, haltingly, just as we have been doing for some decades now.

US draws up list of unstable countries

US draws up list of unstable countries
By Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: March 28 2005 21:56 | Last updated: March 28 2005 21:56

US intelligence services are drawing up a secret watch-list of 25 countries in which instability might lead to US intervention, according to officials in charge of a new office set up to co-ordinate planning for nation-building and conflict prevention.

The list will be composed and revised every six months by the National Intelligence Council, which collates intelligence for strategic planning, according to Carlos Pascual, head of the newly formed office of reconstruction and stabilisation.

Report assails CIA on intelligence on Iraq arms

The final report of a presidential commission studying U.S. intelligence failures regarding illicit weapons includes a searing critique of how the CIA and other agencies never properly assessed Saddam Hussein's political maneuverings or the possibility that he no longer had weapon stockpiles,

There is a con man's technique that politicians sometimes use

Ignoring suffering of everyone who isn't Terri Schiavo

Mar. 29, 2005 12:00 AM There is a con man's technique that politicians sometimes use to manipulate the public and never has it worked better than with Terri Schiavo.

The scheme involves making a very big deal about the plight of a single person to get us to ignore the plight of hundreds, thousands or even millions of others.

Two-bit hustlers use distraction and diversion techniques to lift your wallet or empty your bank account. Political flimflammers use the tragedy of a single family to distract you from the horror they are inflicting upon your friends and neighbors.

Local Residents Blacklisted from Bush Town Hall Events

Denver: The Busheviks Once Again Pull the Plug on Democracy, And Lie About It for the Umpteenth Time -- the Same Lie by the Way. It Should be a Front Page NYT Story, But You Have to Read a Paper in Fargo, N.D. to Get the Truth.

BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

A release from the DNC:

Local Residents Blacklisted from Bush Town Hall Events

Washington, DC – Last weekend, a North Dakota newspaper reported that Republican operatives have adopted a strategy to 'blacklist' some local residents from attending Bush's so-called public town hall meetings on Social Security.

Media Matters for America: Scarborough vs. Neurologist

Neurologist Cranford confronted Scarborough, MSNBC daytime anchor: "[Y]ou're asking me if a CAT scan was done? How could you possibly be so stupid?"

On the March 28 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host Joe Scarborough interviewed Dr. Ronald Cranford, one of the two neurologists selected by Michael Schiavo to examine Terri Schiavo pursuant to an October 2001 appellate court mandate. As part of that duty, Cranford "reviewed her medical records and personally conducted a neurological examination of Mrs. Schiavo," according to the June 2003 Florida appeals court review of that hearing.

Daily Howler - March 28, 2005

GEISHA GIRL! Bumiller was afraid to question Bush pre-Iraq. But she isn’t afraid to give tongue baths

MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2005

GEISHA GIRL: In a must-read post from today’s early hours, Josh Marshall presents “more material on the never-ending decline of CNN.” But for an equally clownish bit of work, see Elisabeth Bumiller’s latest tongue-bath for Bush in today’s New York Times. The piece—her weekly “White House Letter”—is accompanied by five photos of “the frisky president,” and takes up half a page in the paper. Here’s the headline it carries:

NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINE: President Bush’s New Public Face: Confident, Comfortable and ‘Impishly Fun’ There we see it—the ludicrous MO of these “White House Letters.” First, Bumiller finds a White House aide who says the president is “impishly fun.” Then, the quote goes straight to a headline! Bumiller also fawns in her own voice, of course, piling a stack of silly images of the playful, frisky, comfortable, sly, sheepish commander-in-chief.

Echidne of the Snakes: On Guns

One of the three G's that keep the wingnuts going to the polls and voting against their own economic interests is guns. (The other two supposedly are gays and God.) I must come clean and admit that I have great difficulty understanding the American love affair with guns. I can see how banning guns now would be difficult to do, even if it wasn't against the basic beliefs of the country, because once you start riding the tiger it's hard to get off. Meaning that there are plenty of guns out there already, so that if you relinquish yours you might be toast when you meet someone who kept his or hers. But the idea that the right to bear arms is somehow a fundamental right is hard for me to grasp. Well, I have my lightning bolts and my magic, too.

Digby at Hullabaloo: Strange Bedfellows

Commenter Ken Cope catches the fact that the Nader press release, featured in the post below, and the fellow he has partnered with in condemning the Schiavo decisions, both emanate from The Discovery institute, home of crackpot, creationist drivel.

An Army Program to Build a High-Tech Force Hits Cost Snags

An Army Program to Build a High-Tech Force Hits Cost Snags

By TIM WEINER
Published: March 28, 2005

The Army's plan to transform itself into a futuristic high-technology force has become so expensive that some of the military's strongest supporters in Congress are questioning the program's costs and complexity.

Elite Protectionists

Elite Protectionists

by WILLIAM GREIDER
[from the April 11, 2005 issue]

A man-bites-dog story of momentous implications is unfolding in Washington: The US multinational establishment, having successfully championed free-trade orthodoxy for decades, may now be flirting with protectionist heresy--a stiff tariff against China to stanch America's hemorrhaging trade deficits. Fred Bergsten, the multinationals' leading economic authority, warns that the United States is in "big trouble," taking on foreign debt beyond anything any industrial nation has experienced and comparable to Mexico and Thailand just before they crashed in the 1990s. Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics, is lobbying elite circles to demand decisive action by the Bush Administration--an "import surcharge" as high as 50 percent on all Chinese imports--to avert financial meltdown.

Medicare Applications Sent to Low-Income Americans

March 29, 2005

Medicare Applications Sent to Low-Income Americans

By ROBERT PEAR

ASHINGTON, March 28 - The Bush administration said Monday that it had sent the first of some 20 million applications to low-income people who might qualify for financial assistance with Medicare's new prescription drug benefit.

But lawyers and other advocates for low-income people said the form was so complex that they expected fewer than 5 percent of the people to respond.

A Future the Army Can't Afford

war stories
A Future the Army Can't Afford
Should we spend billions on high-tech dreams?
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Monday, March 28, 2005, at 2:55 PM PT

Today's New York Times reports that the U.S. Army's "Future Combat Systems"—an elaborate medley of new hardware, fast software, and wild dreams that Pentagon planners regard as the "technological bridge" to tomorrow—may be about to collapse.

The Carpetbagger Report: Getting Some Help

March 28, 2005

Getting some help defending against a ‘nuclear’ attack

Last month, the National Association of Manufacturers, led by president and CEO John Engler, a longtime Bush ally, announced that it was getting into the judicial nominee game. NAM, though not an obvious choice for a fight over would-be judges, announced a multimillion-dollar campaign on behalf of Republican efforts to stack the courts and, possibly, the GOP’s “nuclear option.” As Salon reported, “A spokesperson for the business group says that securing approval of Bush’s appellate court nominees is now its top priority.”

The Carpetbagger Report: Monday's Daily Roundup

My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Bush’s home-town mayor, Crawford’s Robert Campbell, will not seek re-election, an announcement that comes just six months after the mayor publicly endorsed John Kerry’s presidential campaign. Campbell says his departure has more to do with a fight with difficulties with the city council than the Kerry endorsement.

Daily Kos: Dog whistle politics

Dog whistle politics

by kos
Mon Mar 28th, 2005 at 11:43:11 PST

I don't have a subscription to the Economist, so I can't read the whole piece. But Taegan at Political Wire has an intriguing snippet:

Over the past few weeks, a new expression has entered the Westminster lexicon: dog-whistle politics. It means putting out a message that, like a high-pitched dog-whistle, is only fully audible to those at whom it is directly aimed. The intention is to make potential supporters sit up and take notice while avoiding offending those to whom the message will not appeal.

Atrios at Eschaton: Sybil the Soothsayer

Sybil the Soothsayer

I really picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

In comments, Harold came upon some more Bill Tierney information.

Here's what he told Sean Hannity on 3/24/03, according to the Freepi:

Former weapons inspector Bill Tierney... said on the Sean Hannity radio show that we will be shocked with what we are going to find in Iraq. He has no doubt we will find huge amounts of what Iraq swears it does not have.

Juan Cole at Informed Comment: No Government and 16 Dead

No Government and 16 Dead

US Generals revealed on Sunday that a) guerrillas in Iraq are able to keep the number of attacks at about 60 a day and b) that the proportion of fighters that is foreign jihadis has increased somewhat in the past few months. (The proportion seems to have been about 5 percent through last fall). The CIA is worried that the jihadis are getting training in Iraq that will allow them to contribute to destabilizing the Middle East and might impel them to attack the United States, as the veterans of the Reagan Afghanistan Jihad did.

By the way, if there are 60 attacks a day, why do I only read about 7 or 8 of them?

Juan Cole at Informed Comment: Hariri Likely Killed by Truck Bomb

Hariri Likely Killed by Truck Bomb

The truck, parts of which the UN had alleged were planted by the Syrian government has been identified in a video broadcast by al-Arabiya.

This discovery bolsters the case for Hariri's death having been the work of a suicide bomber, Abu Adas, a radical Muslim who had travelled in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and may have had links to Ansar al-Islam and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Juan Cole at Informed Comment: Florida Funeral Director Buries Universities

Florida Funeral Director Buries Universities

Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, has introduced a Horowitz-inspired so-called Academic Freedom Bill of Rights in the Florida State legislature. In our Orwellian world, this is actually a bill to destroy academic freedom and take away rights of free speech on campus. Baxley is a funeral director, and apparently he wants to bury higher education in this country along with his other clients.

Juan Cole at Informed Comment: Car Bomb Targeting Shiites Kills 7, Wounds 9

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Car Bomb Targeting Shiites Kills 7, Wounds 9

The war in Iraq is the most important problem facing the US in the eyes of the American public, according to a recent poll. Iraq is more important than the economy, terrorism or social security. You'd think the US media and the Democratic Party could take a hint and foreground Iraq. But they are letting it fade . . .

David Neiwert at Orcinus: Priorities

Priorities
Monday, March 28, 2005
So far, most of the evidence that the Bush administration is mishandling the domestic side of the "war on terror" has been a matter of omission, that is, what isn't being done: We haven't caught the anthrax killer. The William Krar case was swept under the national carpet. Even the recent concerns raised by the Lefkow killings raised nary an eyebrow.

There have been clearer indications that this administration is playing politics with the "war on terror," particularly in the skewing of priorities at the FBI, where investigators who specialize in right-wing extremists have been shunted to the back, and the FBI instead has announced "eco-terrorists" as the top domestic-terror threat.

Atrios at Eschaton: Bluggers Suck

Digby gives us the latest version of "bluggers suck" and "journalists r000l" from the LA Times's David Shaw, who writes a column about why bluggers aren't high-minded journalists like him so they therefore don't deserve reporters' privilege.

Digby at Hullabaloo: Wish I'd Seen That

Wish I'd Seen That

The uniqueness—one could say oddity, or implausibility—of the story of Jesus' resurrection argues that the tradition is more likely historical than theological.

If anyone hasn't had the opportunity to read the Newsweak story from which that quote is lifted, do yourself a favor and read it. It is onstensibly about the fascinating story of the historical Jesus and Christian history. But, in the media's new committment to religious sensitivity it is filled with strange intellectual gyrations like that above.

Digby at Hullabaloo: Journalist, Heal Thyself

Journalist, Heal Thyself

LA Times Media critic David Shaw claims in today's paper that bloggers don't deserve the reporter's privilege because they are lazy, careless and inaccurate. In the process of explaining why, he makes a couple of whopping mistakes that one can only assume he makes because he is lazy and careless.

Digby at Hullabaloo: Surprise, Surprise

Surprise, surprise

I missed this one. Another medical expert weighs in:

Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader and Wesley J. Smith, author of the award winning book "Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America" call upon the Florida Courts, Governor Jeb Bush and concerned citizens to take any legal action available to let Terri Schiavo live.

David Neiwert at Orcinus: 'Balance' and the tipping point

'Balance' and the tipping point
Sunday, March 27, 2005

A lot of people see the Schiavo case as a kind of tipping point in the Culture War, though exactly what kind depends on the perspective. My old friend Danny Westneat at the Seattle Times sees it as the demise of the conservative movement. Tristero goes even farther, declaring it the point at which we jumped the shark into full-fledged fascism.

James Wolcott: Put This in Your Easter Bonnet

Put This in Your Easter Bonnet

Posted by James Wolcott

In honor of Easter Sunday, I am adding Free Inquiry, the house organ of the Council for Secular Humanism, to the blogroll. For the last week we've been bombarded with profiles and featurettes on Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life, as if the only fuel to drive purpose is godly faith.

Juan Cole at Informed Comment: The GoogleSmear as Political Tactic

Sunday, March 27, 2005

The Google search has become so popular that prospective couples planning a date will google one another. Mark Levine, a historian at the University of California Irvine, tells the story of how a radio talk show host called him a liar because he referred to an incident that the host could not find on google. That is, if it isn't in google, it didn't happen. (Levine was able to retrieve the incident from Lexis Nexis, a restricted database).

White House considers MI-5-type security division

Friday, March 25, 2005

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is considering a major restructuring of the Justice Department that would create a powerful new national security division in an effort to better consolidate and coordinate terrorism and espionage investigations, officials say.

The concept, still preliminary, reflects concerns among some administration officials that national security cases handled by Justice Department lawyers and investigators remain fragmented at times because of bureaucratic divisions, despite structural changes made since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Phony Iraq warriors beginning to surface

By LISA HOFFMAN, Scripps Howard News Service

On the front lines in Afghanistan, Sgt. Thomas Larez was said to have braved enemy fire to pull an injured soldier to safety, taking two shots to his torso and shrapnel in his thigh as he did.

Though bloodied and temporarily blinded by a concussion grenade, Larez then killed seven Taliban fighters and helped capture several others.
It was a compelling account of heroism hailed in a December 2001 Dallas newscast based on a "Marine advisory" about the battle that Larez said his commanding officer wrote.

Two days later, the station retracted the story. Not only was the "advisory" bogus, apparently concocted by Larez, but the Marine had never even left the United States, much less distinguished himself in combat overseas.

Is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Winning?

By RICHARD A. CLARKE
Imagine with me a nation's security leaders sitting around the conference table being briefed on the progress of things in Iraq. They celebrate the overwhelming victory of their favorites in the Iraqi elections. They are pleased with the effectiveness of their huge investment in building schools and hospitals in Shiite communities. They are delighted that the thousands of their security forces in Iraq are doing well, with few casualties. The nation? Iran.

Business Sees Gain In GOP Takeover

Political Allies Push Corporate Agenda

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 27, 2005; Page A01

Fortune 500 companies that invested millions of dollars in electing Republicans are emerging as the earliest beneficiaries of a government controlled by President Bush and the largest GOP House and Senate majority in a half century.

SUN Op-Ed: Motherhood before marriage

Motherhood before marriage

by Kathryn Edin

Originally published March 27, 2005

IN 1950, ABOUT one in 25 American children was born to an unmarried mother. Today, that rate is about one in three, usually to those least likely to be able to support a child on their own. This has led some to charge that the marriage norm is dead in poor communities.

SUN Editorial: The good steward

IT'S BAD form to mock the newly converted, no matter how self-serving their motivations. So we are just happy to hear that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and his fellow Republicans in Annapolis have seen the light. They now support a constitutional amendment to limit the Board of Public Works' power to sell state-owned parkland. Well, hallelujah. Anything that can prevent another debacle like the Ehrlich administration's attempt to sell 836 acres of environmentally sensitive land in St. Mary's County to developer Willard Hackerman is good news.

Stephen Roach on US Economic Situation

Roach

Stephen Roach has what seems to be a comprehensive sober realist view of the current economic situtation of the U.S.

Let me just add that the montery and fiscal policies under the Bush administration have encouraged asset accumulation and physical investment rather than job creation. And, now we're in a position where, as Roach argues, appropriate Fed policy is a fast increase of interest rates. But, due to the crappy post-recession jobs recovery, asset bubble led inflation means that Greenspan will have to hike interest rates in the middle of a fairly weak labor market.

perfect storm? Let's hope not.
-Atrios 3:02 PM

Atrios at Eschaton: A Consequence of Recession

A Consequence of Recession

One inevitable consequence of recession, especially one which accompanied an interest rate spike which made meeting mortgage payments difficult (either because you're unemployed or because you took Uncle Alan's advice and got an ARM), would be that large numbers of people would dip into their 401(K) plans. They'd pay their taxes, pay the 10% penalty, and drain the accounts.

Digby at Hullabaloo: 'NBC was a much more effective tool for us'

“NBC was a much more effective tool for us.”

What a perfect choice of words.

“With the departure of Dan Rather, this is a good opportunity for CBS to reach out,” said Ari Fleischer, the former White House press spokesman. “This is almost a curtains-up for CBS to improve relationships.”

Digby at Hullabaloo: Here We Are

Here We Are

From Andrew Sullivan:

EMAIL OF THE DAY: "As I read through yesterday's emails, I am struck by the possible fruitfulness of moderate Republican conservatives joining forces with similar folks in the Democratic Party. Perhaps if we leave the extremists of both parties out on their respective limbs and offer a strong ideology of fiscal responsibility, "gentle" hawks only responding in war when clear need is identified, protecting our own public financially from being sold out abroad, protecting our borders (even at the expense of some very wealthy businesspeople) -- promising personal rights of privacy in the pew and the bedroom and on the deathbed -- I think a strong, pragmatic, sensible, workable "party" could emerge. We MUST ditch religious zealotry ASAP -- it is killing real moral values!!"

Can someone explain to me how this substantially differs from the vast mainstream of the Democratic party?

Digby at Hullabaloo: Cafeteria Moralists

Cafeteria Moralists

Matt Yglesias writes:

I described the liberal as having a two-stage view about end of life issues. First, comes something like the "life as continuum" view Brooks attributes to us. Second, comes a principle of free choice -- I think that I should make my own decision on this, but that my view should not control others, though I may try to persuade others that my view is correct (non-relativism). The problem here is that I think a lot of liberals don't recognize that the second principle really does depend on something akin to the first. If you hold views about the sanctity of life and the doing/allowing distinction that lead you to the conclusion that failing to keep alive someone who could be kept alive is the equivalent to murder, then adopting a principle of free choise at the second level makes no sense. An absolutist view on the first question requires an absolutist view on the second question.

Digby at Hullabaloo: Accountability

Accountability

Despite recommendations by Army investigators, commanders have decided not to prosecute 17 American soldiers implicated in the deaths of three prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, according to a new accounting released Friday by the Army.

Juan Cole at Informed Comment: 3 US Troops Killed

3 US Troops Killed
Ansar al-Islam Rounded Up

A car bomber managed to kill two US troops in Baghdad on Saturday. A Marine died fighting in Anbar province.

It's Not Your Father's America Any More

Published on Friday, March 25, 2005 by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

It's Not Your Father's America Any More

by Hubert G. Locke

This country is becoming more unrecognizable with each passing day. The government, we've learned recently, now packages the news. It provides television stations with hundreds of video news releases made up to resemble actual news reports that give us predigested, Orwellian information designed to convince the public that everything in the nation is being well-managed.

Video from StopBolton.org

Think Bolton's the right man for the job of UN Ambassador? Take a look and decide for yourself (Trouble? Download the video here).

Interview With Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter

In a candid interview with RAW STORY, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter sets the record straight on his comments about Iran, shares his concerns about the threats facing America and discusses his hopes. RAW STORY’s interview with Ritter will be published in three parts.

Part I
Nuking the spin: Former UN weapons inspector talks to Raw Story on Iran, Iraq

Part II
Former UN weapons inspector, who worked with CIA, sees ‘terminally ill’ intel operation

Part III
Exclusive: Former UN weapons inspector Ritter says NeoCons ‘godless parasites’ feeding on the Republican Party